Will the Arctic Cold Front Cause Severe Weather and Damage to Crops?

[Evo]

The birds were taking shelter from the storm on my patio today. Poor things.

 

[turbo]

The birds were taking shelter from the storm on my patio today. Poor things.

I try to supply black oil seeds and suet all winter for the chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc. The popular press says "Don't make the birds rely on your feeders" and similar, but guess what? Steady availability of high-calorie food and the micro-climates surrounding buildings, landscaping, etc can make a real difference in this climate.

 

[Evo]

I try to supply black oil seeds and suet all winter for the chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc. The popular press says "Don't make the birds rely on your feeders" and similar, but guess what? Steady availability of high-calorie food and the micro-climates surrounding buildings, landscaping, etc can make a real difference in this climate.

It can really make a difference, but if you are going to do it, you need to commit to it. A neighbor across from me has a beautiful set of feeders, that she never fills. I want to go over and smack her.

 

[turbo]

It can really make a difference, but if you are going to do it, you need to commit to it. A neighbor across from me has a beautiful set of feeders, that she never fills. I want to go over and smack her.

I estimate that we spend at least $200/year feeding birds. I'd like to wipe out the thistles on the cleared part of our property, but I can't. The bees and hummingbirds love the blossoms, and the goldfinches go nuts over the seeds.

 

[Andre]

I try to supply black oil seeds and suet all winter for the chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, etc. The popular press says "Don't make the birds rely on your feeders" and similar, but guess what? Steady availability of high-calorie food and the micro-climates surrounding buildings, landscaping, etc can make a real difference in this climate.

There is a downside to that. For instance the canals here host a plethora of water birds, and the population throws tons of bread in the water to feed them. The result is that the species who happen to eat that thrive, at the expense of others that specialize on typical water biotope foods like fish.\

So the geese and coots thrive in abundance, becoming a nuisance, while the beautiful great crested grebe can't find a spot anymore to build his nest

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

That's what I keep telling the Evo Child. She says what a good driver she is in snow and I tell her it's not her I'm worried about, I'm worried about the other idiots crashing into her.

You never know how many lousy drivers there are until you go through the downtown area at 60 mph. Then they come at you from every direction.

 

[nismaratwork]

You never know how many lousy drivers there are until you go through the downtown area at 60 mph. Then they come at you from every direction.

Ever been in Mumbai during "rush hour"? Then the game is, "find the GOOD driver"... and you realize that the guy driving your cab... he's not one of them. TRUUUE story. I'd have been terrified if the crazed maneuvers weren't all being done below 15 MPH!


Andre: True, but I trust Evo and Turbo to know how to responsibly feed birds; Evo is clearly in love with the little fluffy cuties, and turbo as well. Anyway, those are song-birds, and they can always use a snack... pigeons/doves, geese... I've never seen them starve.

 

[WhoWee]

Glad she's OK. My wife has to go to work tomorrow, but she has a Subaru Legacy with AWD and studded snow-tires. Pretty routine commute for her. Glare ice would be a different story. I would insist that she stay home just to avoid all the idiots.

Thanks turbo. My wife received a text at 5:30 AM - no classes today. I'm glad because she wouldn't have called off - and (more than likely) I would have been driving her.

 

[nismaratwork]

Thanks turbo. My wife received a text at 5:30 AM - no classes today. I'm glad because she wouldn't have called off - and (more than likely) I would have been driving her.

Meanwhile she'd be teaching to a class of one or two!... that kind of dedication is admirable, but wasted.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

They've been predicting freezing rain here since late last week and up at least until 10 pm last night. However, it didn't happen. We only got light rain and now the temps are headed for the low 40s which means not only don't we get ice, but some of the ice on the ground will be washed away. Of course, tonight it will freeze over, but except for tomorrow, the daily high temps are going to be above freezing until Wednesday next week.

 

[Astronuc]

We're watching sleet accumulate on the ground. There is about 2 inches of sleet on the ground and very little traffic. Bus service in the city has been suspended, and schools in the region are closed. The local CC plans to open at 12 noon - but I can't see that happening if it continues sleeting like it is. Later today - freezing rain. The plow truck went by a few minutes ago. While it removed the snow, the surface is now covered with sleet/ice.

 

[nismaratwork]

I can't be sure, but where I am in Chicago I'd swear that it's about 20 inches of snow. With the wind it's very hard to tell...

 

[rootX]

It's snow and raining. Snow is melting and freezing! horrible! It's not a storm but just painful to go out in this kind of weather.

 

[turbo]

10 deg F here and snowing quite heavily. At least we're not in line for sleet and rain.

 

[turbo]

Thanks turbo. My wife received a text at 5:30 AM - no classes today. I'm glad because she wouldn't have called off - and (more than likely) I would have been driving her.

Good for her. My wife's employer won't bother doing that. They wait for people to show up (or not), and then perhaps make a decision to shut down for the day if they are badly under-staffed or if the weather intensifies. My wife has to drive almost 20 miles one-way to get to work and she never misses a day. Meanwhile, there are people who live much closer to the plant that claim that they can't make it to work in bad weather. It's frustrating for her to drive all the way to work only to have the plant close after a couple of hours and miss most of a day's wages.

 

[BobG]

My son is stranded in Akron (the city that rhymes with Saccharin).

He missed his originally scheduled flight yesterday morning because he arrived less than 15 minutes before the plane departed. That was costly. Now his rescheduled flight for today was canceled because of snow. Hopefully, he'll be out of there tomorrow, but, damn he's wishing he had made yesterday's flight.

 

[D H]

Texas statewide is suffering rolling blackouts. While the temperature here is not that cold by northern standards, our power plants were not built for these kinds of temperatures.

The blackouts started around 6 AM, the first was twenty minutes off, twenty on. Then twenty off, ten on. Now it is over an hour off, ten minutes on.

It looks like I'm in for a cold day with rather intermittent internet access.

 

[dlgoff]

Texas statewide is suffering rolling blackouts. While the temperature here is not that cold by northern standards, our power plants were not built for these kinds of temperatures.

The blackouts started around 6 AM, the first was twenty minutes off, twenty on. Then twenty off, ten on. Now it is over an hour off, ten minutes on.

It looks like I'm in for a cold day with rather intermittent internet access.

Dang. Can't your power companies wheel in power (purchase) from elsewhere?

 

[Astronuc]

Texas statewide is suffering rolling blackouts. While the temperature here is not that cold by northern standards, our power plants were not built for these kinds of temperatures.

That's surprising. I would have thought that power plant would not be affected by cold temperatures unless the coal piles froze or the oil got too viscous. I thought many new plants were natural gas fired.

[/quote]The blackouts started around 6 AM, the first was twenty minutes off, twenty on. Then twenty off, ten on. Now it is over an hour off, ten minutes on.

It looks like I'm in for a cold day with rather intermittent internet access.[/QUOTE] Unbelieveable that there is not surplus generation.

In the Northeast US - during one of the winters in the the early to mid 90s (maybe 93), the temperatures were so cold that rivers froze and barges couldn't deliver coal or oil. And the coal piles froze. We had a reserve margin of 0.2%. Natural gas was being used (was committed) for heating. While many fossil plants were down, the nuclear plants in the region kept the grid up - otherwise there would have been a significant blackout.

Go Nuclear!

 

[turbo]

Texas statewide is suffering rolling blackouts. While the temperature here is not that cold by northern standards, our power plants were not built for these kinds of temperatures.

The blackouts started around 6 AM, the first was twenty minutes off, twenty on. Then twenty off, ten on. Now it is over an hour off, ten minutes on.

It looks like I'm in for a cold day with rather intermittent internet access.

It's hard to see how a region that consumes so much power air-conditioning buildings in the summer doesn't have the capacity to provide electricity for lights and heating in cold weather. Or are there infrastructure issues that are not evident?

 

[D H]

Dang. Can't your power companies wheel in power (purchase) from elsewhere?

Texas has its own power grid.

[PLAIN]http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/pwrgrid_interconnects.gif

Why? Don't mess with us and all that. An article: http://www.slate.com/id/2087133/

It's hard to see how a region that consumes so much power air-conditioning buildings in the summer doesn't have the capacity to provide electricity for lights and heating in cold weather. Or are there infrastructure issues that are not evident?

Apparently 50! power generation units went off line this morning due to the cold weather. http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/02/02/texas-cold-snap-leads-to-rolling-blackouts/ Combine that with higher than normal (normal for January) consumption and an inability to connect to the rest of the nation and you have massive rolling blackouts.

 

[dlgoff]

Texas has its own power grid.

[PLAIN]http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/pwrgrid_interconnects.gif

Why? Don't mess with us and all that. An article: http://www.slate.com/id/2087133/

Well I knew that there was an island there but there are also DC ties to other parts of the grid.

The Texas Interconnection is tied to the Eastern Interconnection with two DC ties, and has a DC tie and a VFT to non-NERC systems in Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection"

I suppose the DC ties aren't going to be able to support the kinds of loads needed there.

 

[marcusl]

Our temperature has just climbed to 0F for the first time in two days. Time to go camping!
Will be in a tent at 10,000 feet Friday and Saturday nights.

 

[turbo]

Still 10 deg F here, and at least 2"/hour coming down. I had to use my tractor to clear out the snowbank left by the town plow and clear enough of the driveway for my wife to be able to back in and park when she gets home. The intensity is expected to ease off sometime this evening, but by then, we'll likely have 18-20" or so to deal with. Full clean-up tomorrow. Some of my neighbors are getting pretty high snow-banks from all the plowing this year, making visibility an issue when pulling out onto the road, so I'm going to make the rounds and offer to cut back those banks. Plows are nice in moderate storms, but when you run out of places to push the snow...

 

[Astronuc]

We have a 5 ft high berm behind the mailbox at the end of the drive way. I have to shovel the snow pile clear of the mailbox so that the mailman reach it and the newspaper delivery person can put the paper in the tube - although most of the time, the paper (in a plastic bag) is dropped on the ground at the end of the drive way.

In the area between our driveway and the neighbor's driveway, I have to cut down the berm below 3.5 ft so the lady next door can see oncoming traffic. The guy who plows her driveway tends to push the stuff toward our property, so I have a little extra work to do.

 

[nismaratwork]

We have a 5 ft high berm behind the mailbox at the end of the drive way. I have to shovel the snow pile clear of the mailbox so that the mailman reach it and the newspaper delivery person can put the paper in the tube - although most of the time, the paper (in a plastic bag) is dropped on the ground at the end of the drive way.

In the area between our driveway and the neighbor's driveway, I have to cut down the berm below 3.5 ft so the lady next door can see oncoming traffic. The guy who plows her driveway tends to push the stuff toward our property, so I have a little extra work to do.

Whoa. I think I get the beard now... it's self defense, not just a fashion statement. I can't believe that there is more to come as well. Nutsy.

 

[ZapperZ]

Pictures of the 2011 blizzard in the Chicagoland area, during and after. It was the largest amount of snowfall for a 24-hour period in more than 30 years.

Us, and the neighbors, digging out of the snow after it stopped. At least the sky cleared up and the sun came out. Unfortunately, it will be frigid cold tonight, with tomorrow's high in the single digits only.

Our backyard has been sufficiently buried. I'm estimating that there's about 2 ft. of snow coverage.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

Looks pretty bad Zz.

 

[nismaratwork]

The wind didn't help.

 

[marcusl]

Those are some high snow berms! On the other hand, be glad you all live on streets that get plowed...